Roma Rudd Turkel

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Roma Rudd Turkel
A young white woman with dark har
Roma Rudd Turkel, from the 1926 yearbook of Barnard College
Born1906
Washington, D.C., U.S.
DiedMarch 7, 1968 (age 61)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)Writer, editor, lecturer

Roma Rudd Turkel (1906 – March 7, 1968) was an American writer, editor, and lecturer. Her writings as a Catholic convert were published in newspapers across the United States, and in The Family Digest, mostly in during the 1940s and 1950s.

Early life and education

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Rudd was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Channing Rudd and Florence Stevens Rudd (later MacFarland).[1][2] Her father was a lawyer, college professor, and bank official.[3] She graduated from Barnard College in 1926.[4] She pursued further studies at Fordham University.[5] "I have a college diploma moldering away in one of the trunks we use for dead storage," she wrote in 1948. "I am not proud of it—nor of the education I received at that distinguished college." She advised Catholic students to avoid non-sectarian higher education.[6]

Career

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Turkel was an adult convert to Catholicism,[7] and most of her writing, editing, and public speaking were in Catholic contexts.[8][9] She was editor of the monthly magazine Information,[10] and special projects editor at the Paulist Newman Press.[11] Her book Day After Tomorrow (1956) about planning for old age, was described as "warm, earnest reading".[12] She took particular interest in issues at the intersections of Catholic parenting and public schooling.[13][14] She also translated French Catholic works into English.[15]

Publications

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  • "'It's Like Leading Sheep to Slaughter'; College Graduate Writes to Those About to Finish High School" (1948)[6]
  • "Open Letter to a Nun" (1948)[7][16]
  • "I Went to Confession the Hard Way" (1948)[17]
  • "Come soon, Come often...but don't come on Friday!" (1949)[18]
  • "Home is What You Make It" (1949)[19]
  • "A Convert Tells You How to Help Your Pastor" (1951)[20]
  • "Why Be Chaste?" (1951)[21]
  • "Danger: School Zone" (1952)[13]
  • "Mixed Marriage" (1952, poem)[22]
  • "Curfew" (1955)[23]
  • Day After Tomorrow: Preparing for the Later Years (1956)[24]
  • "Why They Go Steady" (1956)[25]
  • "Occasions of Sin" (1958)[26]
  • "The 'Going Steady Crisis'" (1958)[27]
  • "How to Keep Your Mental Health" (1959, pamphlet)[28]
  • "Story of Christmas is Christ" (1962)[14]

Personal life

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Rudd married salesman John J. Turkel in 1927. They had four sons.[29] She converted from Episcopalian to Roman Catholic in 1938.[5][30] She died in 1968, at the age of 61, in Brooklyn.[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Mrs. Roma Rudd Turkel". Daily News. 1968-03-08. p. 52. Retrieved 2025-09-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Short untitled social item". Evening star. 1903-10-29. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Channing Rudd Stricken and Dies in Hoboken Store". New-York Tribune. 1920-11-09. p. 11. Retrieved 2025-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Barnard College (1926). Mortarboard. p. 200.
  5. ^ a b "Mrs. Roma Rudd Turkel to Speak at Mountain View Rosarians Breakfast". The News. 1953-05-29. p. 16. Retrieved 2025-09-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b "'It's Like Leading Sheep to Slaughter'; College Graduate Writes to Those About to Finish High School". True Voice Edition of Our Sunday Visitor. 1948-05-16. p. 17. Retrieved 2025-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b Turkel, Roma Rudd (1948-10-24). "Open Letter to a Nun; In Which a Convert Asks Some Pointed Questions". True Voice Edition of Our Sunday Visitor. p. 17. Retrieved 2025-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Mrs. Roma Turkel Will Address Altar Society". The Central New Jersey Home News. 1955-05-01. p. 38. Retrieved 2025-09-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Education Lecturer to Talk at Ursuline". The News Journal. 1957-01-04. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-09-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Our Lady of Fatima Society Plans Breakfast". The Jersey Journal. 1951-06-09. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-09-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b "Mrs. Roma Rudd Turkel, 61, Author and Paulist Editor (Published 1968)". 1968-03-08. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
  12. ^ "Books, Pamphlets, and Reports". Aging (31): 8. May 1957.
  13. ^ a b "Catholics 'losing future by default', says Authoress of Article". Lake Shore Visitor. 1952-08-22. p. 9. Retrieved 2025-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ a b Turkel, Roma Rudd (1962-12-14). "Story of Christmas is Christ; Festival of Light". Lake Shore Visitor. p. 26. Retrieved 2025-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Barreau, Jean-Claude (1965). The good news of Jesus. Internet Archive. New York, Paulist Press.
  16. ^ "Nuns Pen Open Letters to a Convert; Answer Questions Asked in Article by Roman Rudd Turkel". True Voice Edition of Our Sunday Visitor. 1948-11-14. p. 19. Retrieved 2025-09-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (1948-06-06). "I Went to Confession the Hard Way". True Voice Edition of Our Sunday Visitor. p. 13. Retrieved 2025-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (July 1949). "Come Soon, Come Often... but Don't Come on Friday!". The Family Digest. 4 (10): 9 – via Internet Archive.
  19. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (November 1949). "Home is What You Make It". The Family Digest. 5 (2): 28–31 – via Internet Archive.
  20. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (1951-01-07). "A Convert Tells You How to Help Your Pastor". True Voice Edition of Our Sunday Visitor. p. 18. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  21. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (November 1951). "Why Be Chaste?". The Family Digest. 7 (2): 7 – via Internet Archive.
  22. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (June 1952). "Mixed Marriage". Integrity. 6 (9): 8 – via Internet Archive.
  23. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (May 1955). "Curfew". The Family Digest. 10 (8): 42–46 – via Internet Archive.
  24. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (1956). Day After Tomorrow: Preparing for the Later Years. Kenedy.
  25. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd. "Why They Go Steady" Suttons Bay Courier (May 31, 1956): 3. via Digital Michigan Newspapers.
  26. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (March 1958). "Occasions of Sin". The Family Digest. 13 (6): 28–32 – via Internet Archive.
  27. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (October 1958). "The 'Going Steady Crisis'". Youth. 14 (10): 9 – via Internet Archive.
  28. ^ Turkel, Roma Rudd (1959). "How To Keep Your Mental Health". Hesburgh Libraries, Notre Dame University. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
  29. ^ "John Turkel (death notice)". Hartford Courant. 1983-12-13. p. 70. Retrieved 2025-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ "Mrs. Roma Turkel Will Give Address". The Morning News. 1957-01-05. p. 10. Retrieved 2025-09-03 – via Newspapers.com.